Friday Five: Five Reveals That Would Bring The House Down on May 21st

The next generation of Xbox is coming, and when Microsoft step to the stage on May 21st to finally confirm what the Xbox 720/Infinity/Durango/Next (or whatever they finally call it) will consist of, there will be bombs aplenty dropping all over the show. We know that the company has promised to leave the gaming focus to their E3 presser next month, but it wouldn’t be a hardware reveal without some sort of gaming content, would it?

Let’s put it this way: There will undoubtedly be more than just a few surreal and disjointed tech demos on show.

So in this week’s Friday Five, we’ve narrowed down the five big gaming reveals that would really tear the roof from its supports and bring the house down, to boot.

1. Project Gotham Racing 5

Bizarre Creations – the company behind the previous titles in the series - is done and dusted. Gone, but never forgotten. Nevertheless, something is going down with the franchise. There’s no smoke without fire as they say, and the rumours have been running loose for long enough to suggest that it isn’t your neighbour’s barbecue that’s kicking up all that soot. The latest word on the street is that Rare have been recruiting from some of the top racing studios over the last year or so, and developer Lucid Games have been doing similar. Could we see a collaboration between the two? Let’s hope so, as there isn’t enough Kudos in the racing scene for our liking.

2. Killer Instinct

Back at the start of April, Microsoft and Fox reached an agreement that allowed Microsoft to use the Killer Instinct brand for any future projects. Could Rare be working on bringing this franchise back to life? Given that the fighting genre is due a bit of a resurgence, it could well be time to unleash Riptor and Spinal once again.

3. Shenmue III

Any chance we get, we’re going to mention Shenmue in the Friday Five. Of late, it seems that Yu Suzuki and the PS4’s lead architect Mark Cerny have been getting a little bit friendly, which would suggest that if Shenmue 3 is indeed in development, it’ll be heading to the PS4. However, it would take a big old chunk of change to ensure that the game is exclusive to that system, so there’s always hope.

4. Rock Band 4

Rock Band 3 DLC was retired after 281 weeks of consecutive releases back in April, with Harmonix declaring that “rock and roll never dies, and Rock Band will keep rocking for years to come.” Now, the studio has been getting closer and closer to Microsoft, with three releases of the Kinect-exclusive Dance Central under its belt. Is it beyond the realms of possibility to think that Rock Band 4 would be headed to the next generation of Xbox? We think not. Whether it would be exclusive, and whether or not it would be announced this early in the day, we’re not sure. We are relatively confident that Dance Central 4 will be shown off either at the revel event or at E3, but we’ve got fake plastic instruments that are gathering dust, and are hoping that Harmonix has the manpower to have been working on both franchises.

5. Halo 5

Do we need to explain this one? Thought not. And it's quite likely, too!

Of course, the only folks who know what’s coming for sure on May 21st are Microsoft themselves, and a few trusted partners and developers. We know what we want to see, and we’re sure you do too. We’ll be reporting all of the occurrences from the reveal event just as soon as they happen, and you’ll be able to follow along with our liveblog on the day as well.

At this point I really don't think anything can change my mind about getting a PS4 first but PGR 5 would certainly speed up how quickly I try to save for the Xbox. All they really need to do is a show a logo for Halo 5 and people will be excited eventhough we all know it's on the way. 4 was fantastic, my GOTY for last year and if not my favorite game this gen, in the top 3. The only kind of negative is we probably won't get it until 2015 at the earliest. I doubt it's a launch title and next year I think we'll be getting a 'Halo 2 Anniversary.' Good because it gives more time for the team to make 5 as awesome as possible, bad because I'm impatient and want it right now.

Awesome list. I could do without another Rock Band (always enjoyed Guitar Hero more) but everything else is just perfect. I've been having dreams about more Shenmue lately and I need to know how the trilogy wraps up!